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Originally developed as a counter to agile Nightwing Interceptors that the Barracuda's 'flying wing' airframe struggled to keep up with, the Piranha AX-12 is a refitted scout skimmer with additional thrusters and an improved aerofoil. Lightweight and relatively easy to manufacture, the AX-12's main disadvantages are its lack of armour and light armament. The later addition of decoy launchers aided with the AX-12's survivability, although many experienced pilots claimed that the additional weight had an adverse affect on the aircraft's performance.

Crew: 1. Pilot/gunner
Weight: 5 Tonnes
Length: 5.7m
Width: 6.5m
Height: 2.6m
Max speed: 2000kph

Main Armament: Burst Cannon in fixed chin mount
Secondary Armament: None
Traverse: Fixed
Ammunition: 3000 rounds
Armour Type: Nano-crystalline alloy, composition unknown.

Piranha AX-12:
BS 3 | FA10 | SA10 | RA10 | HP2 | 1 Piranha AX-12 | 80 points

Type: Flyer, Hover Mode
Wargear: Burst Cannon, Overthrusters, High-resolution Active Scanner
Special Rules: Vector Dancer
Options:
May include up to 4 additional Piranhas: 80 points/model
Any Piranha AX-12 may exchange its Burst Cannon for:
- Rail Rifle or Missile Pod: +5 points
- Smart Missile System, Fusion Blaster, Plasma Rifle or Ion Rifle: +10 points
Any Piranha AX-12 may take up to 2 Seeker Missiles: +8 points each
Any Piranha AX-12 may be piloted by an Air-caste Ace: +30 points
Any Piranha AX-12 may take vehicle Battle Support Systems from Codex: Tau Empire.

Overthrusters: While in Hover Mode, the Piranha AX-12 counts as a Fast vehicle.

High-resolution Active Scanner: The Piranha AX-12 ignores the Shrouded and Stealth USRs.

Air-caste Ace: A Piranha AX-12 piloted by an Air-caste Ace is BS 4 and has the Jink special rule.

Get rid of the High Res scanner and it looks pretty neat! Maaaybe stick to 'legacy' upgrades on the piranha's weapon, though :c Too much versatility = uh oh.

Why is the scanner such a problem? The thing is designed specifically to hunt Eldar fliers with Holofields - and note that it doesn't actually ignore cover.

The basic flyer is garbage. 80 points for a single weapon (or 85-90 for a useful gun) on an AV 10 platform is even worse than the codex flyers. I'd never take this over a Remora, which has a 6-shot twin-linked BC, a networked markerlight, two seeker missiles, and shrouded for only 10 points more than your flyer. And even the Remora is a hard choice with the newly boosted Barracuda available.

The upgrades and scanner seem overpowered (constant jink save without snap shots is breaking a fundamental design rule), but are probably fine in this one special case because the unit getting them is so weak. On any other unit (or if you make this one any better) these would be way too much.

The fluff makes no sense at all. There's no way to justify having a refitted skimmer be better at dogfighting than a dedicated air superiority fighter. By the time you've bolted extra engines onto the Piranha and given it an enclosed crew compartment you've got an awkward mess and you'd be lucky if it even got off the ground. And it would certainly make less sense than stripping all the extra weight off a Barracuda (armor plating, seeker missile bay, etc) if you want an Eldar-killer specialist.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Why is the scanner such a problem? The thing is designed specifically to hunt Eldar fliers with Holofields - and note that it doesn't actually ignore cover.

Because a free "ignore Eldar flyers' only defense" ability sounds a lot more like "I lost a game to a Nightwing, fix this" than a sensible design choice.

I see what you mean. >> actually, I've never actually played against a Nightwing, lol, it just seemed like a convenient excuse to replace the drones with thrusters and make a cool-looking model. That and the colour art in the codex of Piranhas actually being used as dogfighters.

I originally had it at 60 points before upgrades, but figured that 60 points was too cheap for a flier of any sort. >>

 Furyou Miko wrote:
I see what you mean. >> actually, I've never actually played against a Nightwing, lol, it just seemed like a convenient excuse to replace the drones with thrusters and make a cool-looking model. That and the colour art in the codex of Piranhas actually being used as dogfighters.

I originally had it at 60 points before upgrades, but figured that 60 points was too cheap for a flier of any sort. >>

the book also has flavour text of a hammerhead being used as a dogfighter. what's your point?

My point is that it's awesome. Do I need another reason for making a homebrew unit?

 Furyou Miko wrote:
My point is that it's awesome. Do I need another reason for making a homebrew unit?

That depends on whether your goal is to talk about cool units ideas on a forum or to actually convince people to let you use it in a game.

lol, if I wanted to use it in a game I'd probably just use them as counts-as Remoras (I do plan to build at least one). I don't imagine anyone would have a problem with that since the Piranha chassis is rather larger than the Remora hull.